ET Insider – June 7, 2007

Elite Traveler Insider –

June 7, 2007

Elite Traveler Insider

By Douglas D. Gollan, President and Editor-in-Chief, Elite Traveler Magazine  

Welcome to the latest issue of Elite Traveler Insider, the bi-weekly newsletter designed to update our top partners on trends in the private jet lifestyle. This information is provided to offer a better understanding of how to target these globetrotting elite travelers, their impact on your business and other trends that affect you. Remember, private jet travelers are paying up to $10,000 per hour to fly by private jet, so these super rich consumers could be and should be your best customer. We talk about them and how you can get more of them and more from them.

CONTENTS:

1. Prince Summer Spending Draws Major Media …

2. WWD Article Reveals Low Household Incomes for Mainstream Magazines…

3. Austrian Airlines Launches Private Jet Option…

4. The Super Rich Ship Their Boats…

5. UK Private Jet Travel Continues Fast Growth…

Does Elite Traveler work? A reader of Elite Traveler recently made a four night, $40,000 booking at Soneva Gili!

1. Prince Summer Spending Draws Major Media …

The Elite Traveler/Prince & Associates Summer Spending Survey offered more proof of the spending power by the Super Rich. The survey of 198 households with a Net Worth of $10 million + showed that summer spending is projected to increase by over 50% across 17 luxury categories. The research received media coverage by ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC and others.

Among the highlights: 74% of Elite Traveler readers will buy jewelry and watches, spending an average of $94,000; 90% will stay at hotels and resorts, spending $89,000; 26% will take experiential excursions, spending $103,000; 68% will visit spas, spending $61,000; and 16% will rent a villa, spending $106,000.

For a full copy of the survey, www.elitetraveler.com/research.html

Does Elite Traveler work? Elite Traveler delivers. Your leads are extremely qualified and we have closed a significant amount of business from your magazine. Jared Cullop — President, River Rock

2. WWWD Article Reveals Low Household Incomes for Mainstream Magazines…

Think the readers of those ad-packed glossies that sell on the newsstand or offer annual subscriptions for $1 an issue are actually buying the products featured? According to Women’s Wear Daily, the readers of most magazines would seem to have trouble keeping up with rent and car payments, let alone shopping for luxury goods.

Citing the “latest” Mediamark Research (MRI), women readers of W had a Household Income of $105,057 – the highest of the publications reported in the story (as a comparison, Prince Research pegs Elite Traveler’s 429,000 readers at a Household Income of $5.3 million).

Beyond W, Lucky’s female readers had a Household Income of $87,013; Harper’s Bazaar was at $76,873; Elle rated $70,509; and fashion bible Vogue was a mere $65,074.

Pulling up the rear was Town & Country with a Household Income of $54,406, according to WWD, behind Cosmopolitan at $55,401.

Does Elite Traveler work? Two readers of Elite Traveler just made real estate purchases with Ginn Sur Mer for over $15 million!

 

3. Austrian Airlines Launches Private Jet Option…

Even though Austrian Airlines flies to more than 90 cities in Europe, the airline has introduced a new service enabling its Business Class passengers to zip aboard a private jet to virtually any airport in Europe in connection with their long-haul flights to Vienna.

With a minimum notice of 48 hours, travelers can book Austrian Business Jet (offered in conjunction with the air charter company JETALLIANCE) and travel in from (and to) Vienna Airport. In Vienna, passengers are driven to their aircraft in an Austrian Business Jet limo.

“With Austrian Business Jet, we are continuing to expand our scope of services and quality,” says Paul Paflik, Austrian Airlines General Manager, The Americas.

Does Elite Traveler work? Ulysse Nardin sold “at least” two $86,000 Sonnerie en Passant watches from its ad in Elite Traveler’s January/February issue

4. The Super Rich Ship Their Boats…

Do you own a million-dollar yacht? Want to sail the Mediterranean without the hassle of crossing the Atlantic? More critical: do you have $200,000 for a one-way ticket?

If so, a Dutch shipping company has a deal for you, according to a newspaper story.

Dockwise Transport uses cargo ships larger than football fields to haul drilling platforms, oil rigs, even an Aegis missile cruiser across the seas. Now it’s generating $45 million annually, using those same boats to shuttle high-end yachts between the world’s premier sailing waters for the super-wealthy.

This is yacht-owning made easy, especially for clients more interested in grilling steak on a yacht sundeck than hazarding a difficult trans-Atlantic journey or hassling with traditional cargo haulers.

“This is the most relaxing time,” said Robert Fagenson, 58, the president of a Manhattan investment service firm who spoke aboard his 84-foot Sunseeker. He met his boat in Newport after it arrived on a Dockwise freighter from the Virgin Islands.

While he relaxed on deck, he let his private captain deal with Ukrainian sailors shouting instructions as they prepared to unload 37 yachts from the 521-foot cargo ship Explorer in Newport Harbor.

“It’s true escapism,” Fagenson said.

“We call it the snowbirds,” said Clemens van der Werf, president and CEO of Dockwise Yacht Transport, based in Fort Lauderdale, FL. “Instead of putting your boat ashore in Newport” during the winter, “you can use it in the Caribbean.”

Dockwise moved 1,200 yachts around the globe in 2006, according to company officials. The primary route is from the US and Virgin Islands to the Mediterranean, but other stops include waters off northern France, Mexico, Alaska, Australia, New Zealand and Tahiti.

Fagenson said he paid around $45,000 to transport his boat from the Virgin Islands. He considers it a good deal.

Charter firms use Dockwise’s fleet because the cargo boats deliver yachts on time, even in rough water, and undamaged.

“If you’re a charterer, right, you want to make sure the moment you arrive you’re in business,” van der Werf said. “Even an owner, if you’re a busy man, these guys have busy schedules. They plan these vacations with family and friends and they want their yacht to be there.”

Does Elite Traveler work? Felix S. Sabates, Chairman of Trinity Yachts recently bought six Girard-Perregaux watches that he had seen in Elite Traveler.

5. UK Private Jet Travel Continues Fast Growth…

City bonuses and a flood of takeover deals have sent the number of business jet flights in the southeast soaring to record levels. At Farnborough, the main airport dedicated to business aircraft, flight numbers were up 26% in the first quarter of the year. Farnborough handled 5,606 flights in the first three months, up from 4,427 over the same period in 2006. Flight numbers at the airport grew nearly 16% in 2006, with 21,365 recorded, compared with 18,469 in 2005.

The boom in corporate flying underlines London’s growing status as the world’s financial capital, and the success of the city in luring international business. Air Partner, the quoted aircraft broker, recently reported its sales were up 60% thanks to high levels of demand from corporate customers, and from wealthy private individuals using private jets for leisure trips. If the growth continues at current levels, the small southeast airports that cater for corporate jets could soon run out of capacity.

“What has happened at Farnborough gives you an accurate picture of what is happening in business aviation around London,” said Brandon O’Reilly, chief executive of TAG Farnborough, which operates the airport.

Farnborough is limited to 28,000 flights a year, and TAG is already appealing against its weekend limits, which prevent it from operating more than 2,500 flights. “We are having to turn people away,” O’Reilly said.

TAG will begin drawing up a master plan for the airport at the end of the year, which would set out its plans for growth. Although figures for business jet flights are not compiled centrally, one senior business aviation executive said numbers had grown by about 40% between 2002 and 2006 to just under 90,000 a year. Farnborough, London City and Luton airports are business jet hot spots, as is Biggin Hill.